Nikon 50mm 1.4 - mid 1950's - questions

[aizan]

i took the infinity shots today just after the sun went down. i probably should have put a sign in the corner or something, but i'm sure there will be something to look at for corner sharpness. just didn't think, 🙁

 

[doubs43]

It's an Air Force C-130 at Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany, a few hours before midnight in, I think, late February 1993.

Vince, that picture of the C-130 brings back a few memories. I spent a total of four months at Rhein-Main AB on two TDYs. Both were over Christmas.

Coldest I've ever been in my life was on that ramp in the Winter of 1972-1973. Freezing fog and I was in and out of a warm shop multiple times that night. Cold to the bone and even Korea at more than -40 degrees didn't seem that bad. That damp cold soaks right in.

We were part of a TDY rotation at Rhein-Main AB shared between Forbes AFB, Pope AFB, Dyess AFB and Shaw AFB that provided C-130 support all over Europe, including behind the Iron Curtain.... Berlin and Moscow. We had C-130E's and some of the first to be equiped with the Station Keeping Equipment (SKE). The SKE antenna is under the radome that sits just behind the two blade antennas above the cockpit.

Here's a picture I took of a low-flying C-130 last Saturday with a 100mm lens. (Sorry. It's not a RF picture.) I was at our local gun range for a match when this plane and others began making passes.

Walker

 

[doubs43]

The naps don't end when they're grown up.

I'm just a bit older than she is and I love to nap whenever I can. 🙂

Walker

 

[VinceC]

>>that picture of the C-130 brings back a few memories. I spent a total of four months at Rhein-Main AB on two TDY<<

Walker,
Thanks for sharing your memories. I was just in Germany a few months ago and revisited Rhein-Main. Did you know they're completely closing it by the end of this year? The German government plans to tear down every building and build a third passenger terminal for the ever-expanding Frankfurt Flughafen.

 

[VinceC]

Walker,
By the way, I love the Flohmarkt photo in your gallery.

 

[doubs43]

>>that picture of the C-130 brings back a few memories. I spent a total of four months at Rhein-Main AB on two TDY<<

Walker,
Thanks for sharing your memories. I was just in Germany a few months ago and revisited Rhein-Main. Did you know they're completely closing it by the end of this year? The German government plans to tear down every building and build a third passenger terminal for the ever-expanding Frankfurt Flughafen.

Vince,
I hadn't heard that but it doesn't surprise me. If we're leaving the base then it makes perfect sense to use the land for it's best use.

It was my habit to take one day a week and travel by train to a different town and see the local sights. I always took my camera and the pictures I've posted of Germany came from those trips.

One foggy night we had a pilot put his C-130 down on the center taxi-way. He missed the assigned runway because of the weather. I heard that the whole time he was having his butt chewed he had a small smile on his face. He was just happy to be safely on the ground.

Our first year there our planes were equiped with WW2-era IFF (APX-6) and it gave us no end of problems and Red Balls. The second year we'd modified the planes to the APX-72 and it was fantastic.

I was at RAF Bentwaters & RAF Woodbridge in the 1980's and our FOL's were Norvenich, Leipheim, Ahlhorn and Seimbach. I spent a few more months in Germany on various TDY's. It's probably a good thing that I wasn't there PCS...... I absolutely love German food and I'd have looked like a wurst by the time I rotated! 😉

Walker

 

[aizan]

finally developed the test roll. it's hanging to dry now. strangely, the exposure didn't stay the same. it increased as i stopped down the lens and slowed the shutter speed, for both infinity and closeup. i think i'll have to redo the test. :bang:

 

[aizan]

i scanned the negs anyway just now. stacked and aligned them in photoshop, then compared each to each in a table. i wish i could show the table in html so you could see more easily which was sharper and which tied. just remember that if two apertures have the same number of points, it means they tied when compared to each other. if one has less, it lost. i counted itself as one point, cuz at least you have the aperture (f1.4).

here are the results:

closeup, center
16 = 7 points
11 = 8
8 = 6
5.6 = 6
4 = 6
2.8 = 4
2 = 4
1.4 = 1

closeup, corner
16 = 7
11 = 8
8 = 6
5.6 = 5
4 = 4
2.8 = 3
2 = 2
1.4 = 1

infinity, center
16 = 4
11 = 8
8 = 8
5.6 = 8
4 = 8
2.8 = 4
2 = 2
1.4 = 1

infinity, corner
16 = 6
11 = 8
8 = 7
5.6 = 5
4 = 5
2.8 = 3
2 = 2
1.4 = 1

f1.4 isn't all that bad, actually. it may have lost in comparison, but closeup the center is almost as sharp as f11. it's very close. the corners are pretty blurry, though. f1.4 is distinctly lower contrast than f2 and up.

anyhow, i think for my next attempt, i'll use the hexar rf on aperture-priority.